Brothers For Life
by RyanGosling4Ever
Summary: From Wanda Maximoff's POV. Starting with Lance's graduation from high school, she remembers and pays a tribute to the Brotherhood as they all eventually graduate and go their own ways. Plz R&R! ^.^ First chapter up! More to come! ^^
1. Brothers for Life

There was a knock on the door. Wanda hurriedly wiped away her tears, attempting to put a cheerful smile on her face that she didn't feel. "Come in!"  
  
The door opened and Lance walked in. "Hey," he greeted her with a smile. "What are you doing up here by your lone self? C'mon, the guys are all waitin' for ya."  
  
Wanda couldn't help but laugh a little. Lance always seemed to be able to do that. "Hey Lance," she waved to him with a little sheepish smile. "Where're we goin'?"  
  
"The guys wanted to go down to the ice cream place," Lance smiled. "Then later to that new pizza restaurant to eat out, you know, kinda like an out-of-school celebration." He rolled his eyes, laughing. Then taking a closer look at Wanda, he looked surprised. "Were you crying?" Wanda's cheerful fascade crumbled, and she broke down, sobbing quietly. Lance sat down on the bed next to her. "Are you okay?" When Wanda only sniffed in return, Lance moved over and gave her a big hug. "Hey, come on Wanda, what is it?"  
  
The young girl looked up at Lance through teary eyes. "You're graduatin', Lance," she said in a tiny trembling voice.  
  
"Oh."  
  
They sat in silence for a while, both reflecting upon the past year, remembering the good times. The food fight in the cafeteria. Wanda couldn't help giggle through her tears. That had been a blast. They'd pelted the X-men bad that day, she remembered with a smile. Unlike the rest of the Brotherhood, Wanda wasn't too keen on calling anybody "X-geek", the name her brother and the rest of the guys had dubbed Xavier's group.  
  
"Lance, remember the food fight in the cafeteria?"  
  
"Oh man, yeah!" Lance laughed, smirking a little. "I'll never forget the look on Summers's face literally when I pelted him with that pizza." He sniggered. "Or Duncan's either. ALVERS!! YOU'RE GOING DOWN MAN! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU DIE!" Lance shouted, imitating the big football player. He smirked. "Yeah right. In his wildest dreams. The day he gets me is the day I'll dress up as a dorky geek and start calling myself Scott Summers."  
  
Wanda had to laugh at Lance's impression of Duncan. It did sound a lot like the football player. She hadn't been too impressed by his swaggering manner, or his layed-on-too-thick charm on that Jean girl. Wanda thought back to the first day she'd arrived at Bayville in the middle of the year, and Duncan had been trying to go for HER. She shuddered at the memory. He'd only backed off when confronted by the Brotherhood. She'll never forget Pietro's face...  
  
Her brother, the older of the two by a mere four minutes, had always been protective. As children, they had been inseparable, best friends. Closer than close. They'd always told each other everything, from their own secrets to secrets told to them from somebody else. And the young twins would then seal it with giggles and a pinky promise not to tell the secrets or to inform the various people who had told them the secrets that they'd told. Wanda smiled sadly at the memory. How... simple things had been back then! Both siblings had changed a lot over the years, and they could never be as innocent as they had been in their golden once-upon-a-time years. The childlike innocence was gone. Wanda sighed. She was still close to Pietro, but... the closeness wasn't the same anymore. She was terrified that she was actually drifting apart from him, and was powerless to stop the slow but gradual rift growing between them. They'd both changed so much... Too much...  
  
"So how does pizza and ice cream sound?" Lance grinned at her.  
  
"Huh?" Wanda blinked at him for a second, then remembered their old conversation, and smiled. "Sounds good!" she said, getting up. "Heh.. do you think the others are still downstairs?" she laughed. "Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Pietro would wait that long for us to come downstairs."  
  
As if right on cue, the speed demon's high impatient voice shouted up at them. "GeezLance,exactlyhowlongdoesittakeforyoutocallWandadown?!"  
  
Lance sighed. "And his royal majesty awaits," he said with a chuckle and a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Come on kiddo." He pulled Wanda to her feet. "Let's go before Pietro blows a head gasket."  
  
Wanda laughed. "But one has to wonder. Is it a good thing to give Pietro more sugary ice cream?" she grinned as they left the room and went downstairs. Entering the kitchen, they found the rest of the Brotherhood lounging around waiting for them.  
  
"Well,lookwhofinallydecidedtocomedown!" Pietro smirked. "What were you doing up there anyways? You were only supposed to call Wanda down." He zipped around the kitchen, bored. "Butnowthatyou'redown,let'sgo!" Pietro grinned. "Whoo-hoo!Sugarrush,hereIcome!" he said gleefully as he ran around the kitchen.  
  
"Eh... maybe getting ice cream isn't such a great idea after all.." Lance said, looking at the hyperactive speedster warily. "You know, there's a new place in town we can cras-"  
  
"No, ice cream!" Pietro said, "We can crash the new place some other time. Besides, it's more fun if I get Daniels into it."  
  
"Aww, what for, yo?" Todd asked, hopping up. "We don't need him! He'll ruin all the fun of tearing down a store!"  
  
Pietro looked at him like he suddenly smelled good or something. "So I can boogey dance with him, Todd!" he said sarcastically. "To frame him, of course! Why else do you think I want to involve a Xgeek loser in on our fun?"  
  
"Pietro!" That was Lance. "You are only talking about Daniels, and I'm sure you're talking about Summers, and all the rest who reigns in that mansion of theirs, but you wouldn't be talking about Kitty... would you?"  
  
Pietro grinned. "No comment..." he said. "No comment at all..." He knew he could have said something about Pryde just to see what Lance would do, but he preferred to have a house to sleep in that night, and that wouldn't be exactly possible if Lance decided to crash the roof right then. Besides, Pietro Maximoff couldn't afford to risk catching a cold.  
  
Wanda shook her head as she followed the group out the door. Lance. Fred. Pietro. Todd. Brothers, teammates, friends. For better or for worse, this was her family. Despite what people always tend to say about the Brotherhood and about their infamous reputation around town, they weren't at all as bad as people made them out to be. Besides, this was the closest Wanda may ever get to having a real family. She loved it. *Beats being stuck in foster families who don't have a clue you're there half the time, and who wouldn't give a care even if you're there!* Wanda thought bitterly, wincing at the all-too-recent memories of foster care that she had had to put up with. She'd given up trying to keep count of how many she's been in a long time ago. There wasn't any point in it. Wanda had finally just ran away from the last one she was in, had survived on her own until she saw a news broadcast one day about a freak tornado in some never-heard-of hick town called Bayville somewhere in New York. She had known right away it was Pietro. Knew he had survived too after he had ran away about three years before her. Her brother had always been a surviver and a competitor in life. *Pietro,* she thought with a giggly laugh. *What would I do without him? Where would I be in life without him, and more importantly, WHO would I be?* Wanda had never known life without her brother, and couldn't imagine not having him there. After all, they WERE twins. She sighed, content. No matter what happened in the future, she would always have these guys right here. It hadn't always been easy at times, living together, and like most big "families", they'd had their fair share of squabbles and disappointments, but also of laughter and happiness. Lance, forever the big brother to them all, and who'd always tried to do his best to support five teens under one roof. Most people's initial reaction of him was one of intimidation, of mixture of hate tinged with fearful respect for the moody dark haired senior. Of them all, Lance was the toughest, but, what most people didn't realize, also one of the sensitivest of the Brotherhood, most deeply hurt by all the tragedies of his young life. He almost never showed it in public, choosing to mask the pain and hurt behind an impenetrable concrete wall of a seemingly cold heart, and what other people called "a major case of jerkitis". But every once in a while, Wanda caught a flickering glimpse of the true Lance Alvers, of his gentler side, and of a scared little boy trapped in a tough exterior.  
  
Next came Fred. Despite his defensive attitude, and his bully reputation, Freddy was a caring boy . Wanda didn't care what people in town says about him. She had gotten to know the person behind Fred's immovable epidermis.  
  
Third in the gang was Pietro, the fast talking-fast living boy who could never seem to sit still to save his life.   
  
  
The last and least was Todd Tolensky. Over the year that Wanda spent with the Brotherhood, she had never met a more vulnerable and misunderstood individual. Overlooking his weaknesses and his ill-humoured tongue, Todd, or the Toad as he was called by Duncan and all the jocks/cheerleaders in school, (A/N: No intention to offend anybody! Don't sue!) was a very loyal friend.  
  
Wanda looked up at the setting sun in the distant horizon, and took a deep breath. She smiled faintly, sadly, a serene smile. One of these days, sooner or later, time will run out on them all, and one by one, they will all eventually graduate and move on, each going their own separate way. But while time still lasted, she would always have these four. In her heart, there will ALWAYS be these four. A teardrop silently snaked its way down her cheek, and Wanda quickly brushed it away, hoping nobody noticed. She surveyed her family fondly. Pietro, who was zipping around laughing and making kissing noises, no doubtly teasing Lance about his infatuation with Kitty Pryde. Lance, who was yelling something and sending tremors through the ground every few seconds. Freddy, who was ambling along eating a bag of chips and Todd was hopping around sliming every fancy looking car he could see parked along the road that he recognized as one belonging to a jock that he knew from Bayville High. He was now hopping around happily and it didn't take Wanda long to figure out why Todd was suddenly in such a bright mood. Right in front of Todd was a newly-slimed brand new red convertible. Wanda burst out laughing, and Todd turned to her with a sly grin. Wanda grinned back. She could just see Duncan's face when he came out of whatever shop he was in and saw his precious baby. The mental image was just too priceless, and she burst into a fit of giggles again. Finally calming down, Wanda sighed contently. Yes, this WAS her family and always will be. A home and a chance to love and be loved, for who she was, is, and forever will be. And she was proud of the guys and herself. What they lacked in money, and material wealth, they more than made up for it with loyalty and acceptance amongst themselves. They were exactly what their name suggested, not as trouble making jerks or a group of "underpriviledged juvenile delinquints" as Wanda had heard a perfect stranger walking in the streets say one time. She had bristled at that comment. *We are not at all!* she had felt like screaming at the prejudiced lady. *If you'd just open your eyes and see us for who we really are, and stop being such a bigot, we'd be okay and the world would be a much better place!* They WEREN'T a group of JDs, or trouble kids. Just a small group of kids born with special and unique talents, a united brotherhood of outcast teens left to fend for themselves and longing for a love nonexistent in a world filled with hate. Members will come, and members will go, but there will always be something special existing between these five. Lance, Fred, Pietro, Wanda, and Todd. The original Brotherhood! Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, Wanda herself newly codenamed Scarlet Witch, and Toad. *I do have something I can at last call my own,* Wanda thought fiercely as she walked along the road with the others. *I DO have something, being part of the Brotherhood, and NOBODY can or will take that away from me,* she vowed. *Nobody.*  
  
A/N: This is first chapter! More coming up ^.^ 


	2. Graduation of Avalanche

"... Abney, Blake," the voice of Bayville High's principal Kelly rang out through the auditorium. A sandy haired guy walked across the stage to recieve his high school diploma, a wide and excited grin on his face. Sitting in the audience, Wanda clapped along with everybody else.  
  
"... Alvers, Lance..." There was a tighter tone as well as an edge of surprise to Principal Kelly's voice and he smiled a thin lipped smile as Lance strode down the stage to accept his diploma. Frowing, Principal Kelly stared intently down at the diploma in his hand for a while. Finally, he shook his head and looked up, finally convinced that the name on the paper was indeed "Lance D. Alvers".  
  
"Congradulations Mr. Alvers," Principal Kelly said in surprise with a raised eyebrow. "You made it after all." There was a note of suspicion in his voice as he shook Lance's hand.  
  
Lance nodded. "Um, thank you, Principal Kelly," he said with a slight cough, resisting the overpowering urge to smirk. *Yeah, right!* He looked out into the audience, squinting against the bright stage light. Catching sight of the Brotherhood sitting off toward the back, Lance broke into a grin. He was graduating and finally out of this crummy school!  
  
But then, he paused. Despite everything, and his excitement of finally graduating, and getting the satisfaction of proving everybody who had ever doubted him academic wise wrong, Lance felt a pang of sadness to be leaving Bayville High. It held too many memories for him. The halls. How many times did he go down that hall with Kitty, the two of them holding hands? Going from class to class. Tousling around with the guys. The Brotherhood... *God, I'm gonna miss the Brotherhood... I guess Freddy's gonna be in charge of the guys and Wanda now... unless Pietro wants to...* Lance snickered at the first thought as he tried to picture the Blob running the Brotherhood house. They'll probably spend Mystique's entire salary on grocery.  
  
Lance stared out into the packed auditorium. He could see the Brotherhood sitting towards the back and a little bit to the front of them, the much larger group of Xavier kids sat in a group. Catching Kitty's eyes, Lance grinned at her. She turned a little pink, but beamed radiantly back.  
  
"We, the faculty of Bayville High and I, present to you... the Class of 2002!" Principal Kelly's voice spoke into the microphone. The auditorium erupted into cheers and whistles. The Brotherhood were whooping and cheering and jumping around, or at least Todd was.  
  
"Whoo-hoo!" Wanda shouted, clapping with everybody else. An odd burning sensation came into the back of her eyes, and Wanda blinked. *It won't do to cry at such a happy event. Besides, even though he's graduated, Lance is still a part of the Brotherhood, it's not like he's leaving or anything. Nothing's going to change* Wanda tried to convince herself, but she wasn't doing a very good job with it, so to distract herself, she went back to clapping and cheering the graduates along with the rest of the school.  
  
"Hey Lance, you did it, yo!" Todd shouted, hopping up and down. "You graduated, yo! Happy happy joy joy!" He continued hopping up and down.  
  
"Hey, calm down!" Wanda said, laughing. "Hey, um Todd? Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Todd blinked up at Wanda.  
  
"Are you sure?" There was definitely something wrong with the way Todd was smiling.  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay yo! Couldn't have been better in fact. Lance is graduating and I'm happy for him-" Todd's bright smile that he'd been wearing suddenly turned *very* watery. "Aww man, I told myself I wasn't gonna cry!"  
  
"Hey Todd?" Fred looked down at him in concern. "Hey, you gonna be okay little buddy?"  
  
"No," Todd whimpered. "Lance ain't gonna be in the house no more, yo! An-and you're gonna be gone next year, and Speedy and Wanda the year after that, an- And I'm gonna be all alone with Boss Lady!"  
  
"Well, you're still blessed with my beautimous presence for at least two more years, so hey! What are you worrying about?" Pietro piped up, turning to Todd from where he'd been watching the procession on stage and pretending that it was a beauty contest with him as the main attraction.  
  
"Joy." Todd muttered, but he did brighten up a little. "I love you guys." he said through overly emotional watery eyes.  
  
"GROUP HUG!" Fred shouted, enveloping everybody in a huge bear hug.  
  
"Oh no..." Pietro tried to back away, but he couldn't get out due to the mass of people attending the graduation. With one swipe, Fred took the entire group in a hug. "Freddy...Can't...breath..." he gasped.  
  
"Oh sorry," Fred grinned sheepishly down at Pietro, releasing his grip a little. There was a sigh of relief from the others.  
  
"Thanks.." Todd gasped. "I owe you one," he said, slowly turning back to a more normal color, and no longer looking like a cross between a frog and an overgrown lobster.  
  
"Hey look!" Wanda looked toward the stage, where all the graduates were now slowly filing out. "The thing must be over! C'mon, let's go outside to wait for them!"  
  
"Okay." Fred stood up. "OKAY, MOVE IT PEOPLE! COMING THROUGH!" he shouted, bulldozing his way over people. Wanda gaped at him. Pietro noticed this.  
  
"Freddy has his ways," he explained, snickering, as they made their way out into the school yard. "A bit uncivilized at times of course, but if it works, hey! Who am I to complain?" he grinned at her.  
  
"Whatever," Wanda laughed. "With this group, why do I get the feeling anything's possible?"  
  
"Because it is." Todd said simply.  
  
"Yeah, with an irresistable and fun and sexy and talented person like moi around, anything *is* possible," Pietro said mischievously.  
  
"Pietro," Wanda said with a laugh. "You need to know when to shut up, you know that?"  
  
"I'm hurt!" Pietro looked at Wanda with a mock hurt expression in his eyes. "My own sister! Oh how dare you!"  
  
"Yeah right!" Wanda shoved him playfully. Up ahead, the graduates were coming out, some blinking against the harsh sunlight, others were grinning broadly, probably glad to be escaping the insanities of Bayville High more than likely. Craning her neck, Wanda finally saw Lance emerging with the rest of the seniors. She caught a glimpse of a tall, brown haired guy, the sun light reflecting off his ruby quartz glasses. *Scott!* she realized, recognizing the Xmen's good looking leader. She made a mental note to congratulate him later.  
  
"Lance!" she grinned, running over to him with the rest of the guys behind her. Pietro, of course, got to him first. It wasn't even possible for him to walk slow. His slowest of the slowest possible pace for him was still as fast as that of a marathon runner.  
  
"Hey congrats!" Wanda smiled up at him. "So how does it feel to be the big graduate?"  
  
Lance laughed. "You'll get there soon too, Wanda, so you'll know for yourself, but for me," his grin grew bigger. "It was GREAT!"  
  
Just then, Kitty came up to them. Wanda was amused to note the different expressions to come across her housemates' faces. She personally got along okay with Kitty, but something told her the rest of the Brotherhood and Kitty weren't exactly the best of friends. There was a cross between a smirk and a snicker on Pietro's and Todd's faces, and she couldn't tell what Fred's expression was supposed to convey. Lance's, however, smiled at Kitty, who hesitated a moment looking at the Brotherhood.  
  
"Hey Pretty Kit-"  
  
But he never got to finish, as Kitty flung her arms around Lance's neck and kissed him lightly and swiftly on the lips.  
  
"I've always wanted to do that, Mr. Alvers," Kitty said, smiling up at him. "Like, congradulations Lance! You did it!"  
  
Lance looked dazed, and a little smile crept across his face. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he asked in a distracted tone. Suddenly, he seemed to come back to the real world. "Hey Kitty, if I walk across the stage right now and 'graduate' again, do I get another kiss?" he grinned at her.  
  
Kitty laughed, turning a brighter shade of pink than her pinkest outfit that she owned. "Sure, I'll think about it," she smiled.  
  
"Hey Kitty, need a ride back?" Scott came up to them, car keys in hand. His gaze, from behind his ever-present sunglasses, seemed to stop on Lance, and his face hardened, but he didn't say anything. There seemed to be a glaring war going on between the two of them.  
  
Kitty looked at one, then back to the other, and sighed. "You guys, stop it! Scott, like, stop being a such a creep, y'know? Lance, I gotta go. Like, call me sometime, okay?" With that and a last look at them, Kitty and Scott walked away, toward where the rest of the Xmen were waiting by Scott's car.  
  
TBC!! I promise!! :) 


End file.
